Too big, even for Big Ron: Disgraced pundit puts house on the market

Downsizing: Ron Atkinson and his wife, Maggie, are looking for a smaller place, also in Barnt Green

As a veteran footballer, manager and TV sports pundit, Ron Atkinson – nicknamed Big Ron – and his wife Maggie have lived all over Europe.

Their property purchases followed his managerial roles until the pair fell in love with Birmingham’s leafy suburb of Barnt Green, near Bromsgrove, and put down roots in the early Nineties.

Now the couple are downsizing from their four-bedroom house, Avening, which has four acres and a two-bedroom granny annexe.

‘It’s too big for us. We used to have three dogs but now we have no ties and we like to go to our place in Tenerife when the mood takes us,’ says Ron’s wife Maggie, 62.

The wealthy village south of Birmingham is the Midlands’ answer to the Surrey commuter belt, with its streets of detached mansions set up gated driveways.

Home to wealthy professionals who work in Birmingham and celebrities such as former England player Geoff Thomas and UB40 singer Ali Campbell, it was perfectly located as a base from which Ron could travel around the country for his work.

‘At one point we were juggling several properties at once,’ Ron says.

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‘There was a four-bedroom house in Rochdale from when I was managing Manchester United, a flat in Edgbaston in Birmingham from when I was in charge of West Bromwich Albion, and we almost bought a property in Spain when I went to Atletico Madrid. When that finished and I came back to Sheffield Wednesday, we rented there and decided it was simplest to keep a base in the Midlands,’ says Ron, 72.

Final whistle: Ron's large four-bedroom house is on the market for £1.75million

The pair bought the house for £500,000 in 1995. They have spent £250,000 on the large home where they have held regular starry parties in a marquee in the landscaped back garden.

The immaculate interiors have the typical WAG touches you would expect from this early version of Posh and Becks. There’s a top-of-the-range kitchen, bathrooms and conservatory and a room devoted to Ron’s trophies.

Happy memories: Ron's sitting room is overflowing with football memories

Maggie is most proud of the master bedroom suite, three bedrooms knocked into one vast space with a dressing room. ‘The only thing Ron chose was that,’ she laughs, pointing to the huge bath. ‘It’s so big that we never use it.’

The house has been on the market for a year and they have reduced the price by £250,000 to £1.75million. The pair want to stay in the same area because of the ‘close-knit community’ where they have many friends – and which must have been a comfort in 2004 when Ron was forced to resign from his football commentating role at ITV after making a racist comment.

Through the keyhole: The immaculate interiors have the typical WAG touches you would expect from this early version of Posh and Becks

Will Kerton, of Knight Frank in Worcester, says: Barnt Green is a hidden gem. If you were from outside the area, you wouldn’t know what it offers.

‘In the good years properties here sold well, but there are fewer buyers coming out of Birmingham.

The prime market is more reliant on national buyers at the moment and they don’t tend to be looking in this area.’